VCAST Music Disables MP3 Playback

Class Action #2!!!!

Ok, so we finally get the USB connectivity that we have been begging for from Verizon, but they do it by sacrificing file transfer capabilities from the memory card. This is completely communist and out of line.

It is 100% illegal for Verizon to sell a device with a feature, and then take that feature from the customer with a software update. The customer bought the phone based on the functionality it had at the time of purchase and NEVER agreed to forfit those features at a future time. This will DEFINATELY lead to a lawsuit.

Great move Verizon.

You just lost 6 loyal customers to Sprint. My entire family will be leaving once our contracts expire.

Alltel did something similar (maybe it was nokia's fault) with the Nokia 6255i. With the newest update they fixed the MMS sending but took away the games and collections menus, which held user installed games and programs. You could still download the programs from alltels Axxess Apps...

lol... your jokeing right? it is called a optional software upgrade for a reason. you do not HAVE to flash your software. IF you intend on useing the optional vcast music then you will need to flash your software. Also your telling us that all six of your family members who would pay 15$ a month to use vcast music are going to leave VZW bexause they chose to use WMA over your existing MP3.. Finally the original lawsuit was over a non disclosure how is telling you that you will need to upgrade your software to their new premium content against the law.

Uh....no...he's not joking. None of us are. I'm sure because you have the "VZW" before your username you won't agree, but saying that a software upgrade is optional and then removing functionality that ONCE WORKED is sneaky as hell. What's more, there's something to this thing... I don't see the 8100 anymore, but the website does indicate that there is an MP3 player. The key to a possible suit is if the VCast upgrade never stated or warned the user that doing so would render a feature that was previously working to not function anymore.

What if you used your phone to send text messages and when you downloaded VCast you found that text messaging didn't work anymore?

The only way to upgrade the software your phone is directly thru a store. Now remember people stop being lazy, all yeah need to do is use windows media player 10 and covert your mp3 to wma files. Plus you have choice u don't have to upgrade you handset.

VzwRsR said:lol... your jokeing right? it is called a optional software upgrade for a reason. you do not HAVE to flash your software. IF you intend on useing the optional vcast music then you will need to flash your software. Also your telling us that all six of your family members who would pay 15$ a month to use vcast music are going to leave VZW bexause they chose to use WMA over your existing MP3.. Finally the original lawsuit was over a non disclosure how is telling you that you will need to upgrade your software to their new premium content against the law.

No, I'm not joking. Optional software update, my a$$. Take the 8100, for example. Version 06 of the software supposedly fixes the volume issue,...(continues)

because there are always idiots out there that scream "class action lawsuit!""I didn't read the terms and conditions but I am going to sue anyway"Let's all sue McDonalds, too, because although their nutrition guide guide discloses the fat content in a Big Mac, the people at the drive through don't read me all the nutrition information and ask me if I agree with the purchase prior to telling me to drive through to window #1.I am going to cancel my cable account because they didn't tell me that the coax cable was black. Blue is my favorite color. so I am going to end my service and sue them.

thats such bullshit! i dont see why you dont wait till you find out if that is certain. also why would you leave to go to less service just because of a feature that isnt even crucial to what a cell phone is for? you seem to be a very cheap person and i feel feel sorry that you are that needy about life. good luck in life! youre gonna need it..

What business is it of yours what this guy wants to use the phone for? Some use their phone primarily for voice...some use for texting and browsing and minimal voice. Some don't have ipods and use it to play music. How does that make him cheap? Personally I think anybody willing to pay $3.99 for a song that can be purchased on iTunes for $.99, burned to a CD, ripped and then stored on their phone isn't CHEAP...just smart.

hybrid22 said:thats such bull****! i dont see why you dont wait till you find out if that is certain. also why would you leave to go to less service just because of a feature that isnt even crucial to what a cell phone is for? you seem to be a very cheap person and i feel feel sorry that you are that needy about life. good luck in life! youre gonna need it..

Oh, I am waiting until I find out it is certain. I have to wait until my contracts expire in order to make any kind of move anyway. And there is no question, in my market, that Sprint is every bit as good as Verizon -- and they don't cripple features on their phones. DUN - Permitted on Sprint; MP3 - Also Permitted on Sprint.

hybrid22 said:thats such bull****! i dont see why you dont wait till you find out if that is certain. also why would you leave to go to less service just because of a feature that isnt even crucial to what a cell phone is for? you seem to be a very cheap person and i feel feel sorry that you are that needy about life. good luck in life! youre gonna need it..

Oh, I am waiting until I find out it is certain. I have to wait until my contracts expire in order to make any kind of move anyway. And there is no question, in my market, that Sprint is every bit as good as Verizon -- and they don't cripple features on their phones. DUN - Permitted on Sprint; MP3 - Also Permitte

hybrid22 said:thats such bull****! i dont see why you dont wait till you find out if that is certain. also why would you leave to go to less service just because of a feature that isnt even crucial to what a cell phone is for? you seem to be a very cheap person and i feel feel sorry that you are that needy about life. good luck in life! youre gonna need it..

Oh, I am waiting until I find out it is certain. I have to wait until my contracts expire in order to make any kind of move anyway. And there is no question, in my market, that Sprint is every bit as good as Verizon -- and they don't cripple features on their phones. DUN - Per

Flash machines will have v04 and v07 versions of the software on the phone. Employees are being instructed to inform the customer it will disable mp3 playback and it is reversible.

What is illegal is to package this update with other FIXES for the phone. If a customer comes in with a problem with their phone, and the only fix is a software update -- that update will disable their MP3 player without their knowledge. Even IF the technician tells them the MP3 is being disabled, why should a customer have to deal with "bugs" in their phone (volume and camera issue with the 8100 is a perfect example) that this software fixes simply because they don't ...(continues)

duckbutter said:Don't count on the update fixing the bugs in the phone. Has anybody actually confirmed that it will.

Not saying this one does. I was just giving a hypothetical example. All future updates, including ones that include fixes, will have this VCast Music feature, thereby disabling the MP3 capability. That is what my problem with the situation is.

Oh I completely agree, there is no way I'm getting the update especially when I have thousands of songs already on my computer. And I was just saying that as far as I know the bugs won't be fixed on this version anyways unless somebody knows that it will. I just want the camera delay to go away. The camera on my 8000 was so much better.

yes the vzw before my name eludes to the fact I work for verzon.. I have also worked for sprint.. I fail to understand how being told "your going to lose mp3 compatibility if you CHOOSE to upgrade your phone to use our Vcast music" constitutes a breach of terms. You also seem to assume that the flash's comeing up are bug fix's given that no public information has been given I find the reactions to the flash information to be overzealous imho. It has been said before all the thousand of song you currrently legally own will be able to transfer to this service with the exception of .aac which even that has work arounds. But for the millions of subscribers that use a non ipod site to dl music (46percent of the market) they will be able to...(continues)

VzwRsR said:yes the vzw before my name eludes to the fact I work for verzon.. I have also worked for sprint.. I fail to understand how being told "your going to lose mp3 compatibility if you CHOOSE to upgrade your phone to use our Vcast music" constitutes a breach of terms. You also seem to assume that the flash's comeing up are bug fix's given that no public information has been given I find the reactions to the flash information to be overzealous imho. It has been said before all the thousand of song you currrently legally own will be able to transfer to this service with the exception of .aac which even that has work arounds. But for the millions of subscribers that use a non ipod site to dl music (46percent of

that is incorrect.. if you plan on leaveing the internal memory and storeing songs your fooling yourself. I can see people rocking to two songs on a loop. No seriously you can and I will be useing up to a gig of external memory. As far as drag and drop I cannot comment on that before rollout but needless to say we have users covered and you will be given means to transfer hundreds of songs to your new WMA compliant cellphone effortlessly and in a way that doesn't take forever.

VzwRsR said:that is incorrect.. if you plan on leaveing the internal memory and storeing songs your fooling yourself. I can see people rocking to two songs on a loop. No seriously you can and I will be useing up to a gig of external memory. As far as drag and drop I cannot comment on that before rollout but needless to say we have users covered and you will be given means to transfer hundreds of songs to your new WMA compliant cellphone effortlessly and in a way that doesn't take forever.

I know....I am going to have to do it via USB cable that I will have to buy from Verizon instead of simply inserting my memory card into the reader and placing songs on it. More money for Verizon. What else is new?

what? i used my nokia, s710, and rokr. as they are ALL music phones for talk and MUSIC. i "rocked" for hours up to 2 gb's. on my phone so i didn't have to carry my ipod. and it is also COOLFACTOR. so evidentily music capable phones are a rave now.

Here's what you fail to realize. The VCast Music system is not designed to disable the ability to play music from your memory card at all. Instead of you being able to play files tagged ".mp3" you will instead have to play files tagged ".wma" it isn't that difficult. You say it's 2 tedious steps...no it's not, it's the same thing you had to do to change iTunes into MP3. The compression will be better with WMA and you'll get more onto the card. You don't have to download them from VZW to use the card, just convert correctly. As it stands the 8100 reads .wma anyway without the software flash. As for your continued proclomation that "vzw doesn't tell you it will disable when you flash" next time you goto a tech counter read the sign that ...(continues)

Phantom1 said:Here's what you fail to realize. The VCast Music system is not designed to disable the ability to play music from your memory card at all. Instead of you being able to play files tagged ".mp3" you will instead have to play files tagged ".wma" it isn't that difficult. You say it's 2 tedious steps...no it's not, it's the same thing you had to do to change iTunes into MP3. The compression will be better with WMA and you'll get more onto the card. You don't have to download them from VZW to use the card, just convert correctly. As it stands the 8100 reads .wma anyway without the software flash. As for your continued proclomation that "vzw doesn't tell you it will disable when you flash" next time you goto

Dude, give me a break! Can you play your AAC on your 8100 as it is? No! Therefore, for YOU it will make no difference.

Also keep in mind that you can utilize the internal memory of the phone.

Also, given that your computer doesn't have built-in memory reader, like most of the inexpensive machines, you would've to purchase something anyway. I'd prefer a cable, it gives me more flexibility and I'm gonna fear loose the itty-bitty memory card somewhere on my table.

kvazzz said:Also, given that your computer doesn't have built-in memory reader, like most of the inexpensive machines, you would've to purchase something anyway. I'd prefer a cable, it gives me more flexibility and I'm gonna fear loose the itty-bitty memory card somewhere on my table.

#1 - it sucks for everyone who already bought a memory card reader#2 - The phone only has enough memory for about 5 songs#3 - MY memory card reader is built into my printer, so I didn't have to buy anything extra to make it work and it would be nice if I still didn't have to. The only reason I have to now is because Verizon is out to make more money.

Think about people who still have no idea what's the difference between MP3 player and the Ipod. .

Oh, and you forgot, what if I loose my card switching it?

No, you are correct. It's never about the customer to Verizon. It's about revenue - that is the only reason they care about customer service is to increase revenue. They could care less if they screw them over.

And, if you lose your card - that's your own dumb fault for being irresponsible. Playing from a memory card is MUCH better as you can put many more songs on there. People will be VERY disgruntled only having the ability to store 2 to 4 s...(continues)

SForsyth01 said:And, if you lose your card - that's your own dumb fault for being irresponsible.

So you're argument is that Verizon should cater to your needs of being able to drag/drop files to your memory card and they should ignore the concern that someone could lose their memory card taking it in/out of the phone constantly? Basically, your (idiotic) concern trumps over someone else's (idiotic) concern? Hypocrisy is so wonderful isn't it?

SForsyth01 said:And, if you lose your card - that's your own dumb fault for being irresponsible.

So you're argument is that Verizon should cater to your needs of being able to drag/drop files to your memory card and they should ignore the concern that someone could lose their memory card taking it in/out of the phone constantly? Basically, your (idiotic) concern trumps over someone else's (idiotic) concern? Hypocrisy is so wonderful isn't it?

No, you are missing the overall point of the discussion. THE POINT IS: Verizon is the SERVICE provider. They should not have control over how I can transfer anything to or from my phone. They should not be able to...(continues)

Like you just said..."Verizon is the SERVICE PROVIDER" they are providing you with the service of VCast Music. If you were smart you'd realize that you can convert to WMA yourself and drag/drop to the memory card. For those who already purchased a memory card...oh wait just answered that too. As for "they have customer service to increase revenue" that has to be the dumbest thing I've ever seen! There is a reason Verizon Wireless is consistently rated a #1 Wireless carrier and it is not because they "increase revenue". It is because they offer the best service, the better product, the better reliability and the best customer service. Think of it this way, customer service reps are the ones that have to listen to people like you complai...(continues)

Phantom1 said:If you were smart......that has to be the dumbest thing I've ever seen!...... customer service reps are the ones that have to listen to people like you complaining about the stupid things...Better do your research before you make comments...

I think its that kind of nasty attitude that's part of why Forsyth is dumping Verizon for Sprint, as I've heard him discuss in other posts.

Let's put it this way... berating current customers is sure no way to help out the churn rate, bro...

Phantom1 said:If you were smart......that has to be the dumbest thing I've ever seen!...... customer service reps are the ones that have to listen to people like you complaining about the stupid things...Better do your research before you make comments...

I think its that kind of nasty attitude that's part of why Forsyth is dumping Verizon for Sprint, as I've heard him discuss in other posts.

Let's put it this way... berating current customers is sure no way to help out the churn rate, bro...

Thanks, Shock. You are exactly right. My issue is the revenue driven crippling of features by Verizon coupled with the horrible attitude of the VZW employe...(continues)

YOu know I'm not really sure what features are crippled. I got the upgrade last night. Yes they turned off the MP3 player, but they'll show you how to turn that feature back on, took like 10 seconds. I reformatted my memeory card. I can losf music files directly on to my SD card through my card reader in either MY MP3 folder or WMA for MY Music.And the phone is louder now, as far as playing music.I didn't have to buy any new equipment.

There is a (non-Verizon approved) hack that will bring back mp3 functionality for the LG 8100, but not for any of the other phones that support VCast Music. That's not exactly what I'd call supporting mp3 playback.

I'm not sure if the hack as you call it non-approved. It was a Verizon rep that explained how to do it. I can't address the 1 other phone that has this feature currently. To me the benfits of the upgrade out weigh any of the other changes that occured with the upgrade. I consider the phone more of a viable music player now with the upgrade than it was prior to the upgrade. The music is easier to manage and the volume is much better. And I still have the ability to play MP3's.

You will be able to use your mp3 and Itunes files. All u need is use windows media player 10 to convert the files to wma and then save it to your sd/trans memory card and it will play in your phone. Please get all the information before u start making assumptions.

Good luck filing that suit. Too bad you won't win it. Because the VCast Music was not offered at the time of your handset purchase. And the feature of the MP3 was available. And besides And you are not required to take the software update to get the VCast music capability. I wish you luck at Sprint. They don't offer half the features we do, nor the coverage area.

clr7181 said:Good luck filing that suit. Too bad you won't win it. Because the VCast Music was not offered at the time of your handset purchase. And the feature of the MP3 was available. And besides And you are not required to take the software update to get the VCast music capability. I wish you luck at Sprint. They don't offer half the features we do, nor the coverage area.

Sprint Coverage area: Not a problem - with roaming agreements they actually cover more than VZW. Check out the map:

SForsyth01 said:You are correct, I don't have to accept the software upgrade, but what happens if I am in need of a fix that is in a software update, but I don't want to lose MP3 capability. At that point, I am up a creek without a paddle. And that isn't fair to the consumer.

SForsyth01 said:You are correct, I don't have to accept the software upgrade, but what happens if I am in need of a fix that is in a software update, but I don't want to lose MP3 capability. At that point, I am up a creek without a paddle. And that isn't fair to the consumer.

What about vzw's business makes you think they want to be fair to the customer? We saw how they locked down bluetooth and are surprised when they lock the mp3's feature???

"You are correct, I don't have to accept the software upgrade, but what happens if I am in need of a fix that is in a software update, but I don't want to lose MP3 capability. At that point, I am up a creek without a paddle. And that isn't fair to the consumer."

What are your options? Send it in to the manufacturer. They will be able to take care of any issues like that. And if you aren't happy with that, well there's no making you happy. All you want to do is whine. My only other thing I have to say on this is that, if Verizon went ahead and launched VCast Music, and didn't offer any software upgrades to some existing VCast capable equipment, there would be even more B****ig because someone out there doesn't want to pay full retai...(continues)

clr7181 said:"You are correct, I don't have to accept the software upgrade, but what happens if I am in need of a fix that is in a software update, but I don't want to lose MP3 capability. At that point, I am up a creek without a paddle. And that isn't fair to the consumer."

What are your options? Send it in to the manufacturer. They will be able to take care of any issues like that. And if you aren't happy with that, well there's no making you happy. All you want to do is whine. My only other thing I have to say on this is that, if Verizon went ahead and launched VCast Music, and didn't offer any software upgrades to some existing VCast capable equipment, there would be even more B****ig because someone out th

SForsyth01 said:Your best bet, as an obvious Verizon employee, would be to accept that the customer is entitled to certain things - and not losing functions on their phone in the process of getting something fixed is something that I feel they are entitled to. Pardon me for living.

Especially when the phone was originally sold with the capability.

If my fiance` went into a vzw store and asked for a refund because this feature, that was advertised with the phone was removed, she'd be laughed out of the store.

Ughhh.. WMA. Verizon is becoming less and less Mac compatible for me, unlike Sprint.

Only being able to play WMA files is the kind of crap you're going to have to deal with if your provider gets in bed with Microsoft. And Microsoft these days seems to be all about DRM. At least Apple publically stated they don't like using it as evident by their most lax DRM scheme and them not suing the creator of JHymn (FairPlay DRM stripper).

Not meant to turn this into a Mac vs PC thread, but showing the sad reality of dealing with Microsoft.

Hey genius, before you go hoppin over to Sprint - no one is MAKING you take VCAST music. Leave your phone alone and continue to have MP3 capability. OR take the VCAST music and lose MP3. Simple choice. Or maybe - just maybe - you could take the VCAST music and then upload your MP3's to Windows Media Player and continue to have them on the phone. wow.

I've been saying the same thing in all my posts..well put !! I left Verizon for Sprint and am completely satisfied with their service. Bluetooth is uncrippled, the phone's original software is in tact, EVDO is way ahead of the game. I hope more people wake up to Verizon's power trips. PLUS YOU WILL SAVE MONEY !!!

For some clarification on software upgrades for phones that take away certain functionalities: The manufacturer--(motorola, lg, etc...) are the ones that push new software to the carriers, when there is a change or a problem in a certain phone, the manufacture issues software to fix this problem. Verizon is bound by a contract with that manufacture to push software to the stores and give notification to the employees that new software is available for various phones. One must remember that Verizon is a carrier, which means a manufacture has total control over such things as software which sometimes, unfortunately take away certain functionalities of phones. Not saying that Verizon isn't looking for a way to make some money off of this in the...(continues)

Ok i know the answer to your questions and hopefully to deter a lawsuit you sue happy people. You can have your vcast and pay for it to. Heres the deal - on your 8100 press menu + o - enter in the service code 000000 go down to 11. Music Settings - and reenable the Mp3 on the device. Now give that a try and see what you think now?